Audiofanzine put the Waldorf Streichfett digital synthesizer to the test. Released earlier this year, the small box is designed to replicate the sound of vintage string machines.
Read the review
SynthGear TagsSynths keyboards and anything with a keyboard …

Thomas Dolby’s solar-powered boat studio

Keyboard magazine recently did an interview with Thomas Dolby in his home studio, which just happens to be… a boat.

Powered by both solar and wind power, the studio is located somewhere on the north coast of England. The studio is based inside a large 1930’s lifeboat called Nutmeg, and has all the tools and gear needed to record his last album. He jokes:

“When the polar icecaps melt, my recording studio will rise up like an ark, and I’ll float off into the drowned world like a character from a JG Ballard novel”

Here is The Nutmeg, firmly rooted to the ground. You can just see the the solar panels and wind turbine at the top, which power the entire studio.

The main mix position has a Mac Pro with dual displays, Thiel SCS-4 monitors, the ever venerable Yamaha NS-10 monitors, and the whole thing is built right into the existing cabinetry of the boat.

For recording, Thomas uses a Millenia STT-1 channel strip and PreSonus FireStudio rack-mounted. Yes, that’s all the high tech you really need as long as you know what you’re doing with it!

Here’s his Nord Lead 3 virtual analog synth.

and a CME UF7 MIDI controller keyboard facing outwards to the bow of the boat.

Access Virus TI Polar synth.

Pretty sweet setup.

In this video, Thomas Dolby talks about his studio and the ideas behind it, then a rendition of a new song he wrote in the boat, at TED. He’s backed by members of the modern string quartet Ethel:

great to see the revolution catching on,besides the kitchen at Tree Sound being solar powered, we now have 3 mobile hybrid wind/solar power stations that we run our Myer Sound PA with. I think we need to build an Arc next. Feeling blinded by the science. Thanks Thomas Dolby

Cocky Eek’s Tactile Research Lab has created an art-installation-meets-musical-instrument-meets-organic-weirdness. Called the “Get in Touch” exhibit, it invites the public to create sounds by touching the backs of nude people in an effort to help …